100 Concerts / Concert #5

Headline Act: Elton John

Touring Album:Breaking Hearts

Opening Act: none

Date: October 14, 1984

Venue: The Hollywood Sportatorium. Hollywood, FL

Ticket price: $15.75

Ooh la la! Sasson!

"And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then...."

It's not uncommon to smell pot being smoked at a concert. When you're 16 and you sit behind adults who are passing a joint and you recognize them as friends of your parents? Well, that's damn confusing. My friend Brian experienced this exact situation when we went to see Captain Fantastic, The Pinball Wizard, the legendary Elton John.  I mean do old people (in their forties) smoke pot? That's just weird.

How do you think he does it?

I'd grown up with much of Elton's music, thanks to my sister who often played "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player", "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" and other LPs. Elton had emerged from the early '70s singer-songwriter boom, thrived in late-'70s disco with "Philadelphia Freedom" and was now getting some pre-VH1 heavy rotation on  MTV with "I Guess Why They Call It The Blues" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", the latter was the big single on this tour.  Elton has made some fine records in the years since, but if his career had ended in '84 he would still have earned a major place in rock history.

Trippy cover, great album.

If you look carefully at the ticket stub at the top of this post, Elton was one of the first artists to have a corporate sponsor's name attached to his tour. In this case, Sasson (designer jeans) was a "perfect fit" as the sponsor. Elton made the ultra-smart / ultra-cheesy move of converting "Sad Songs" into a TV commercial, changing the words to "Sasson Says So Much". Surprisingly, this commercial seems to be one of the few videos unavailable on YouTube or anywhere on the web. This concert sponsorship trend began in 1981 when Jovan (perfume) paid The Rolling Stones $1 Million to sponsor their tour.  Apparently Keith Richards' Heroin sponsorship fell through.

At 37, Elton was still a young man and had great energy during the show we saw, especially during "Bennie And The Jets" and "Saturday Night's Alright...".  His band was composed of musicians who had performed with Elton for years, they had the chemistry that a band achieves by playing hundreds of gigs together. Check out the setlist below, there are at least a dozen classic songs, just part of an incredible catalog from John and lyricist Bernie Taupin.  One of those songs, "Rocket Man", has been the subject of much scrutiny, thanks in part to William Shatner's unforgettable interpretation at The Science Fiction Awards in 1978.  If you've never witnessed this magic, please drink in the glory that is the Shatner experience! 

Unofficial setlist: Tiny Dancer, Levon, Lil 'Frigerator, Rocket Man, Daniel, Restless, Candle In The Wind, The Bitch Is Back, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Who Wears These Shoes, Sad Songs (Say So Much), Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Bennie And The Jets, Philadelphia Freedom, Blue Eyes, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, Kiss The Bride, I'm Still Standing, Your Song, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Crocodile Rock